New Episode, and GMTK Insider (July 2018) (Patreon)

First things first, here's your new episode. It will go out to the world in about an hour. But you get a sneak peek. It's the first episode of Boss Keys season 2.

Thanks so much for your support this month. Here’s an update on all things GMTK.

Designing for Disability

This is a topic I’ve been meaning to touch on for some time. Accessibility is important to me, and while there are loads of good resources out there I wanted to provide a really clear and easy video for people who get most of their game design lessons from YouTube. 

Initially I was going to do this as one big video, but realised that there’s a lot more to accessibility than I realised! When you factor in everything from hearing loss to colourblindness to epilepsy to repetitive strain injury and so on, it’s an enormous topic. So I split it into multiple videos.

The first was on audio. And as I started to do research, I very quickly realised how terrible video game subtitles are. It’s actually very rare to find a game that does a good job of them, so hopefully I’ll be able to make a bit of a difference there. In fact, when I played The Spectrum Retreat on Twitch I was moaning about the subtitles and the developers were watching and took note - so that’s good!

Since the first episode, I’ve been in contact with loads of people, charities, and developers, so future episodes will be even better. My next task is to learn everything there is to know about colourblindness.

But ultimately, I’m incredibly lucky to have a platform like GMTK and I should be using it for good where possible. And this is the first proper stab at that. Look out for more stuff like this in the future.

Boss Keys Season 2

Boss Keys is such a weird project. I really enjoy doing it, but I always fear that it’s the most staggeringly nerdy, academic, nonsense that I’ve ever made. But, hey, people seem to like it! So it’s back, this time looking at Metroidvanias.

It’s a natural next step. Zelda dungeons are like Metroidvanias in miniature, so now it’s time to look at the big picture. 

When I started Boss Keys, GMTK was quite different. I just did whatever I felt like. But now, the channel has a much more educational and informative kick. So it was important for season 2 to have a bit more value. That’s why I’m doing it as a “Making a Metroidvania” type deal, where we’re going to learn how to make a game in this popular genre.

I’m also not going to torture myself this time. I won’t be doing every Metroid game. And I’m going to take it slow, and only do games I really want to talk about. And this time, I really will do a GMTK episode that wraps everything up! (I still might do that Zelda episode, but I need more time).

For this episode I had to start with Metroid 1. And that also felt like the ideal time to talk about Zero Mission - even though many of the advancements it made actually came from Super Metroid. But that’s okay, Boss Keys has never been perfectly linear.

The games I’m most excited to decode are Super Metroid and Hollow Knight. And then, once it’s done, I’m gonna hang up the Boss Keys hat for good. I don’t want to be known as the guy who only ever talks about keys and backtracking and maps. Sure, I’ll come out of retirement for Metroid Prime 4 and other such games.

But I’d rather look at something else. So I’ll use the game-per-video format to research something else, like stealth games or JRPGs or whatever. Who knows: that’s a 2019 problem.

What’s next?

August is a bonkers month for me. I’m going to Cologne for Gamescom, I’ve got driving lessons and tests. And I’ve got some holiday stuff. But I’m definitely going to get a video out! 

For now, I’m focusing on Designing for Disability episode 2. So, that’s all things visual. Colourblindness, low vision, etc. I’m really looking forward to researching this stuff and finding games that do a good (and bad) job of approaching this subject.

I’ve been thinking about other videos I want to do. I can never quite focus on one idea, right now. I definitely want to do a thing on making games that aren’t about combat. I want to look at physics and controls for platformers, so people can stop making floaty jumping mechanics. I’ve also got some ideas for much shorter, snappier videos that don’t really need to be 10 minutes long. Who knows.

Oh, and don't forget the Game Jam. I'm looking forward to that! I've got a theme in mind, but still got some planning to do.

Mark’s month

This month I did my second international talk. This time it was in The Netherlands, at a university in Breda. It was a version of that talk I gave in London about how I analyse games. And it was good - people enjoyed it, and I got loads of really smart questions. I also met a bunch of students, played their games, and took selfies with people. It was weird. I don’t like it.

There aren’t any big games out at the moment, are there? I played a little Mario Tennis with a friend and our partners - it’s okay, but not as approachable as Mario Kart. No one’s got time to learn all of those crazy rules! And playing doubles means relying on another player which more often led to arguments than fun times! 

There’s lots of good indie stuff at the moment, though. I’m looking forward to checking out Chasm, La Mulana 2 (though I never actually played LM1!), Guacamelee 2, Unavowed, and more. Then it’s back to big releases in September with stuff like Spider-Man and Tomb Raider.

I have no idea what I’m doing at Gamescom. I’ll have a wander about, and maybe plonk myself down somewhere and tweet out my location. We’ll see. Watch this space.

Uhm, that’s all for now. I’ll do some more Patreon exclusive content soon! Just been pretty snowed under. But things are returning to normal. Thanks again for your support at the start of 2018. I’m so happy I could burst right now, and I’m so thankful you were there for that.